How drones are making history and saving lives

By ShareAmerica – Feb 5, 2019

When Claudine Ndayishime suffered complications during her cesarean section, doctors at a Rwandan hospital lacked blood to treat her and she fell into a coma. Before long a tiny robotic airplane designed by the California startup Zipline dropped a padded package of blood that doctors used to save her life.

“It was because of Zipline that I was able to regain consciousness,” Ndayishime said. “They delivered the blood in a few minutes.”

Since partnering with Rwanda in October 2016, Zipline said, it has flown more than 500 emergency deliveries. Locals have dubbed the company’s drones “sky ambulances.”

Flights like the one that supplied blood for Ndayishime’s transfusion are highlighting the value of drones for delivering medical supplies to isolated, hard-to-reach regions. In December, the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu completed a first-ever drone delivery of vaccines to a remote area.

Zipline has announced plans for drone flights in Tanzania and Ghana. It said those deliveries will include blood, vaccines, and anti-malarial and HIV medicines.

Other U.S. companies also are using drones and other new technologies to help expand medical treatment. Matternet, of Menlo Park, California, supplied drones to test deliveries of blood samples for HIV testing in Malawi.

And Nexleaf Analytics, a nonprofit based in Los Angeles, is supporting the international organization Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, in its mission to vaccinate children in developing countries. Nexleaf designs affordable technologies to ensure vaccines are stored at cool temperatures and remain viable.

But for Alice Mutimutuje, a Rwandan mother who needed a transfusion when hospitalized for malaria, drones’ speedy delivery of medical supplies is most important. “I used to see the drones fly and think ‘they must be mad,’ until the same drone brought me blood and saved my life,” she said.